Louisiana Legislature passes pair of public-contract reforms

Two bills that would add more public scrutiny to the way contracts are awarded or changed by public bodies are on their way to Gov. Bobby Jindal after clearing final hurdles in the Louisiana Legislature on Tuesday.

Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans

The House went along, 100-0, with Senate-made changes to House Bill 449 by Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans. The bill would require public bodies to debate and award construction, professional services and consultant contracts in public sessions.

"This says that the qualifications of individuals or the companies getting the public contracts have to be discussed in the open session" because it involves spending taxpayers' money, Abramson said.

The only change to his bill came in an amendment from Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, who got senators to exempt certain public contracts that must be awarded based on competitive bidding.

Abramson said the exception applies to a limited number of state agencies, mainly in the executive branch of state government.

Meanwhile, the Senate went along with changes to a bill that would require public bodies that award construction, insurance and other contracts to notify the public when there are change orders that increase an already-awarded pact.

Senators voted 36-0 to give final approval to a House-made change to Senate Bill 242 by Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie.

Appel's measure would require any public body that increases a contract by at least 10 percent -- and at least $10,000 -- over the original contract value to file the add-ons and the original contract in the parish courthouse as a public record.

The bill also requests that contract modifications that are done incrementally but over time amount to an increase of 20 percent and $10,000 must also be filed as a public record in the parish courthouse.

The only change to the bill came from Rep. Tony Ligi, R-Metairie, at Appel's request, to exempt from the bill change orders approved by state purchasing officials and for state construction projects.

Ligi said the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget oversees, and in some cases votes on, change orders. Ligi said making state officials go to court when a project's value changes by 10 or 20 percent or at least $10,000 would not be feasible.

Appel's bill also increases the penalties for the crime of "receiving or offering to receive" a portion of the profits, fees or commissions of public contracts or the change orders.

The bill increases a maximum $1,000 fine to a maximum of $10,000 and imprisonment for a maximum of 10 years instead of one year as state law now provides. Both a fine and a jail sentence can be imposed.